In a new interview with Wired this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook opened up about it his relationship with the late Steve Jobssharing how the legendary founder’s vision convinced him that Apple would thrive, even when critics thought it was doomed.
“If you remember, Michael Dell said that if he was the CEO, he would shut down Apple and just return all the assets that were left to the shareholders,” Cook said. “Michael just said what most everyone else was thinking.”
But conversation with Jobs 1998 changed everything. “When I went out to talk to Steve about working at Apple, I felt so alive and so different. He was passionate about the product, about Apple and its purpose,” Cook said. “From that moment on, I didn’t think Apple would fail.”
Cook will join Apple, leaving a secure position at Compaq despite warnings from colleagues about Apple’s precarious state. (Note that this was years before the iPod, iTunes, and iPhone came along, marking what many consider Apple’s renaissance.) After Jobs’ death in 2011. Cook took over as CEOoverseeing the company’s transformation into one of the world’s most valuable brands.
Here are some other key takeaways from the interview:
Cook goes to Steve Jobs’ old office for inspiration
More than a decade after Jobs’ death, his old office at the former Apple headquarters, One Infinite Loop, remains intact. Cook revealed that he still visits the office occasionally, and finds inspiration in the space where Jobs worked.
“No one ever moved in there,” Cook said Wired. “I like my connection with Steve, and I like the connection between the company and Steve. Our values and our DNA flow from it.”
The office serves as a touchstone for Cook and a reminder of Jobs’ lasting influence on Apple’s culture. While Apple Park now serves as the company’s headquarters, One Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California remains a symbol of the company’s history.
AI is about to ‘invent’ everything at Apple
As Apple moves through a new era of technological innovation, Cook sees artificial intelligence as the next transformative chapter for the company.
“AI will reinvent and enable a new era and a new chapter for the iPhone, iPad and Mac,” Cook said during the interview. “We’re just at the beginning.”
Cook highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence to reshape the way users interact Apple productsmaking them more intuitive and capable of solving complex multi-step tasks. While Siri remains a cornerstone of Apple’s AI efforts, Cook suggested significant advances are on the horizon.
“I think more people will have a relationship with Siri because it will become more personally relevant and it will be able to remove tasks from you,” he said.
For Cook, artificial intelligence has the same revolutionary potential as the iPhone’s introduction of multi-touch technology, which revolutionized smartphones. With artificial intelligence, he believes Apple is poised to usher in a new era of innovation, much like it did decades ago.
